Maya nearly swooned as Axell’s capable hands swooped inside the loose neckline of her shirt and bared her breasts. She was scarcely in any condition to comprehend his words. When his mouth fastened over her nipple and suckled to show what he meant, she cried out in delight and near panic at the sudden, insistent urges swamping her.
Grabbing his shirt, she jerked at the buttons, instinctively seeking the heat of his skin to share the flames of her own. The slippery silk practically flew apart, and Axell groaned deep in his throat as her hands spread across his chest. Frantically, she tugged the shirttails from his trousers so she could unfasten the whole placket and shove it aside.
Lifting his head, he looked directly into her eyes as if he wanted to say something. She didn’t want words. Finally, at long last, she could run her fingers over all those lovely muscles.
Axell nibbled her lips as she spread her palms across his broad chest, igniting the flames in more places than one. He cupped her breasts in return, taunting them into readiness.
She arched higher, and at the pressure of his hips against her knee, she gladly parted her thighs.
Maya shuddered as Axell’s fingers slid downward, discovering she wore no panties. He growled in appreciation and caressed her with his thumb, while his mouth drove her senseless. Raising her legs, she wrapped them around his hips, pulling him closer until she could feel the heat of his arousal through the layers of his clothing.
“I hope you’ve taken care of birth control,” he muttered thickly as his kisses melted her into tingling nerve endings, “because I don’t think I can stop.”
“The pill,” she gasped, just before Axell’s hot mouth greedily covered hers in an excess of gratitude. She’d sworn never to leave herself unprotected again, but she’d never thought to need protection from this man. She moaned as he spread her thighs wider and only their clothing prevented their joining.
The phone rang.
Axell jerked, but his mouth didn’t release hers and his hands cupped her tighter.
The phone rang again.
“They may need you at the...” Maya’s voice trailed off as Axell’s fingers caressed the aching peak of her breast.
“They can handle it.” He slid his kisses toward her ear lobe.
The phone shrilled louder.
Nervously, Maya thought she heard Alexa cry. They were making love in the middle of the kitchen with three children only a few thin walls away. She was the one losing it.
“What if it’s Cleo?” she asked weakly as Axell’s teeth nibbled at her ear and his hand slid beneath her nightie again. It wasn’t an unreasonable question. Cleo had said she had a probation hearing coming up. She just couldn’t think straight enough to recall the importance of such a call.
“She and Stephen can entertain each other,” Axell answered without rancor, sliding his mouth back to hers.
That would have shut her up, but the wavering cry of an infant stopped them both before their mouths connected.
Maya could feel Axell shudder as he stroked her where she’d opened for him. Just a minute more...
The phone rang insistently. Alexa increased her wails. And a sleepy voice calling “Maya” from the back bedrooms finally broke the spell.
Maya flushed as she looked up and read the regret behind the heat in Axell’s eyes.
He glanced down to where his tanned hand cupped her pale breast. “Damn,” he muttered. “Damn, damn, and double damn.”
“Point taken,” she said wryly, squirming backward, hoping to escape his reach.
Refusing to let her go, Axell leaned over and grabbed the phone. “What do you want?” he yelled into the receiver.
“My, my, the lion isn’t sleeping tonight,” Selene’s voice purred from the other end of the line. “Did the fish slip away from you again?”
Axell grimaced in defeat as Maya did just that — slipped backward over the table and out of his hands, straightening her nightshirt in the process.
“You got a telescope?” he asked in irritation.
“No, but I’ve seen our girl in action. You can catch her later. Right now, we’ve got a problem. Put her on.”
Maya had already fled the kitchen to quiet Alexa and reassure whichever of the kids the noise had disturbed. He could still feel the heat of her bare skin on his hands. The ache in his groin pounded with the need for release.
He’d forgotten the kids, the bar, Pfeiffer, and everything else in his degenerate need to plow his maddening wife until she screamed surrender. He was a sick man.
Wiping the sweat off his brow, Axell spoke abruptly. “If it’s about Pfeiffer, I’ve already heard. There isn’t a damned thing we can do at this hour. Go back to your party, Selene.”
“My source says it’s murder, Holm. How far is your mayor friend willing to go to get his damned road?” The phone slammed in his ear.
Axell stared blankly at the receiver until the warning signal shrilled, then hung it up. Ralph Arnold, a murderer? No man could be that desperate for a road, could he? Murders around here tended to be drug related, but that didn’t make sense either. Old Man Pfeiffer wasn’t exactly the sort to deal in drugs.
Glancing at the knee-deep clutter surrounding him, Axell took a deep breath and ordered the pounding in his pants to cool. Remembering Maya’s willingness, he couldn’t summon much eagerness for the effort. Maybe once she got the kids quieted...
Cursing Selene, phones, and his rotten timing, he stalked upstairs to the part of the house Maya had claimed for her own.
She wouldn’t buy a damned thing for herself, but he noticed she had no such compunction about buying for the kids. A six-foot Big Bird greeted him as he turned the corner, buttoning his shirt. Brilliantly colored art prints from the Madeline books and others of knights and dragons adorned simple frames in between the bedrooms. He’d stumbled over enough stacks of books in previous ventures into this territory to know to tread warily. He couldn’t imagine how he’d once thought these rooms empty and without life. They scarcely seemed big enough to contain all the energy bouncing around in them.
Not knowing whether to be irritated or happy at the discovery, Axell sought the sound of Maya’s voice. No one had ever driven him over the brink of sexual frustration as she had. His loss of control frightened him, heightening his irascibility. She’d damned well taunted him into that scene — in the kitchen, for pity’s sake! The kids could have walked in at any time.
He flushed at the thought of literally being caught with his pants down. The only other time in his life he’d ever been so incautious was to believe Angela when she’d told him she had used protection. He’d almost made the same mistake again. Although, if he was being rational about this, he’d have to figure Maya wasn’t in any hurry to get pregnant. She didn’t need to. They were already married.
His head hurt with all the conflicting issues rampaging around inside. Discovering Maya in her room, rocking a whimpering infant and reassuring Matty in a low voice, Axell leaned against the doorjamb and just let it all go for a moment. He couldn’t do anything about old man Pfeiffer or Mayor Arnold or the Mid-East crisis at this hour. His concern now was getting Maya into his bed so he could release some of this tension. Then he’d worry about getting to the bottom of their problems.
“I think Alexa has a fever,” Maya whispered over Matty’s head.
That shot his ship down fast enough.
***
After a night of walking the floor with a crying baby, Axell wasn’t in a humor for cock-and-bull stories.
“Even I know that’s ridiculous,” Axell shouted the next afternoon at Headley’s latest gossip. He never shouted. Resting his head in his hands, he propped his elbows on his desk and wondered when his life had taken this bent direction. He didn’t have to wonder. He knew.
“It’s either the mayor or that New York developer he’s connected with,” Headley replied with assurance, appropriating a seat on the couch without being asked. “I’ve done my homework. Ralph’s invested heavily in that
real estate corporation owned by the Yankees. This is their first big project. They’ve got some condos near town in the blueprint stage, and they’ve acquired land for townhouse apartments. They need the cash flow from that shopping center.”
“Shit.” Axell sat back and stared out his window. He really didn’t want the mayor’s job. He’d just thrown out the threat to smack Ralph into line. But apartments and condos weren’t the kind of lifestyle he wanted for Wadeville. The bastard.
He took a deep breath to clear the cobwebs. “That doesn’t make Ralph a murderer. That’s preposterous. Pfeiffer has a hundred and one relatives waiting with bated breath for his demise. Any one of them could have been desperate enough to hurry him on.”
“They’ve not determined the cause of death yet,” Headley reminded him. “That noxious brood of Pfeiffer’s are the gun-and-knife toting sort. The sheriff would damned well know the cause if they were involved.”
Axell pinched the bridge of his nose. “Speculation will get us nowhere. I’ve got lawyers reading over the terms of Maya’s lease, but we’ve got to start considering alternatives. No place else is as convenient to the houses out there, and land prices are too exorbitant to consider buying anything. She’ll be turning my house into a home school if I don’t do something soon.”
Maybe the best thing was for her to give up the school. Men desperate enough to murder over land wouldn’t let the little complication of a lease stop them. Besides, he liked coming home at night to the sound of Maya’s laughter and the kids giggles. He was even beginning to enjoy the purple monstrosities growing in his dining room. He liked even better the idea of slipping home when the kids weren’t—
“That little girl of yours sure has you wrapped around her little finger, doesn’t she?” Headley broke into his reverie. “You know, there used to be a kid from Texas named Alyssum who came into the grill in your father’s time. Married a local girl. You think it’s some relation?”
Axell glowered at the old man. “Maya’s parents are dead.” He returned to staring at the building next door — the one Maya and her former lover occupied, though on separate floors and for different reasons. It still drove him nuts thinking about it.
Headley was right. Maya had him wrapped around her little finger and it had very little to do with Constance’s welfare or protective instincts or any of the other crap he’d been rationalizing.
He’d do a damned lot for his daughter, admittedly. She hadn’t asked to be brought into this world. He accepted the responsibility for that. But he didn’t think it was for Constance’s sake that he worried about Maya and her school. He’d already provided a permanent solution for Constance by marrying her teacher.
No, the hell of it was, now he was worrying about the damned teacher.
Instead of solving several problems with his marriage, he’d multiplied them into hordes the likes of which Genghis Khan had never known — because of a wisp of a female with big blue-green eyes and hair the color of sunset.
Maya wasn’t just a challenge. Maya was the moon and stars and planets all rolled into one, and he sure the hell wasn’t NASA.
Reaching for the phone, he started to call to see if Alexa was any better.
Instead, he dropped his hand and got up. He’d go next door and see for himself.
He ignored Headley’s laughter as he strode out.
Twenty-five
Give pizza chants.
Maya barely looked up as the shop chimes rang and Axell entered. She was furious and embarrassed with herself, and not entirely happy with him. This morning he’d grabbed a cup of coffee, kissed the kids on the head, and escaped before they could exchange two words. She didn’t like being given a taste of her own medicine. Axell was Virgo, dammit, not Pisces. He wasn’t supposed to slip away like that.
His cautious approach warned he was treading as warily as she. He glanced down at Alexa sleeping in her cradle. “How is she?” he whispered.
Damn, he set every one of her nerve endings on fire just by his presence. Maya glanced up from the shoe she was painting and studied him from beneath her lashes. Axell never looked uncertain. He always looked self-confident and in charge. But today... Did she detect just a hint of tension in the way he loosened his tie? He’d apparently left his coat in his office. Even that was a sign of something. She just didn’t know what.
“The doctor says I should expect fevers with colds and allergies. If I’d been able to breast feed, she’d have had more immunity. I’m not supposed to worry unless the fever lingers or gets worse.”
“We’re not supposed to worry,” he corrected, not looking up from the cradle. “We’re in this together.”
“We” was a hard concept for Maya to wrap her mind around. She’d never really been part of a “we” and wasn’t entirely sure how it worked. Axell was trying to teach her, and she appreciated his efforts, she really did, but she’d had the supports pulled out from under her once too many times in the past. She’d taught herself to be smarter than Charlie Brown with his football.
She painted the dragon’s breath a brighter orange and didn’t reply.
Axell leaned his hip against the counter beside her, and Maya could smell his shaving lotion. Last night, she’d gone to bed with that scent on her hands. Tonight, she could easily go to bed with the scent of the whole man on her. The quivering in her lower abdomen warned that was a path she shouldn’t take with Axell standing this close. She didn’t like being dominated by macho men, she reminded herself. His size alone could diminish her. His superior attitude would wipe her up off the floor.
“I thought maybe I should take you out to dinner tonight.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Maya could see Axell confidently crossing his arms as he leaned against the counter. For whatever reason, the combination of his tentative statement and confident pose struck her funny bone.
“You thought maybe a bed would be more comfortable than a kitchen table,” she translated for him, biting back a giggle.
That shut him up briefly. Then he grunted. “It’s a damned good thing that table weighs a ton or I would have slammed it against the wall.”
Maya grinned in relief. So, maybe they’d both come a little unglued. “I vote we reserve the table for special, nonkid occasions,” she replied noncommittally.
“Dinner?” he persisted, not letting her off the hook.
A cautious step on the stairs prevented Maya’s immediate reply. She’d heard the shower earlier. Stephen never got up this early. Nervously, she glanced at Axell. He was watching whoever descended with that narrow, Norse god look, as if he’d shoot thunderbolts at any person who dared invade his cloud.
His expression turned from anger to wariness. A few months ago, Maya would have sworn Axell had no expressions, but she recognized the signs now. She glanced over her shoulder.
“Cleo!” she shouted with joy.
Axell caught the paint pot as Maya leaped from her seat and ran to embrace her sister. He should never have allowed Maya to leave a key out for an unknown factor like her sister. Although he could see the resemblance between them in the redhead coloring and delicate bone structure, the similarities ended there.
Maya’s sister exhibited a tough, sharp edge that would cut a man in two if applied deliberately. She wore her dark red hair in a clipped, rough cut that emphasized the harshness of her cheekbones and the thinness of her lips. Partially tinted glasses hid her eyes, preventing any comparison with Maya’s open, honest turquoise. Even as Maya enveloped her in a hug, Axell could sense Cleo’s cold gaze on him. This was not a woman he’d like to meet in a dark alley.
“Come meet Axell,” Maya said eagerly, urging her sister forward. “Axell, this is my sister Cleo.” She didn’t give either of them a chance to respond but leapt to the next question. “Why didn’t you call? I wanted to come and get you. How did you get here?”
“I’ve got friends.” Cleo dismissed the question curtly.
“You didn’t have trouble finding the key where I told
you it would be? And I fixed everything just like you had it before.”
“It’s fine, I found it just fine.” She glanced down at Alexa. “This your kid?”
“Isn’t she beautiful? Would you like to hold her?” Without waiting for an answer, Maya lifted Alexa from the cradle and offered her to Cleo.
Axell wanted to grab his daughter and shield her from this hard-eyed woman. He had to start remembering that Maya had more in common with this ex-convict than she did with him. Alexa didn’t belong to him in any form. Stephen had refused to sign any release papers allowing Axell to adopt her. He bunched his fists at his sides and watched as Maya’s sister inspected Alexa but refused to hold her.
“Where’s Matty?” Cleo demanded, pulling back from her niece’s ruffled pink blanket.
Axell thought he ought to leave the sisters to their reunion, but his stubborn protective instincts wouldn’t surrender to logic or politeness. He wouldn’t see Maya hurt.
“At the school,” Maya replied happily, apparently not aware of her sister’s icy distance. “I think kids benefit from year-round school, and he loves it, so I enrolled him in summer sessions.” At Cleo’s silence, Maya continued defensively, “It’s my school. It doesn’t cost anything.”
Cleo nodded, and eyed Axell with suspicion. “Who’s the turd who tried to climb in my bed last night?”
“Stephen! Oh my gosh, I forgot Stephen!” Anxiously, Maya handed Alexa to Axell. “What did you do, Cleo? It’s my fault. I didn’t know you were — ”
Cleo cut her off. “He’s in Matty’s bed.” She continued staring at Axell. “I want my son back.”
Axell shifted Alexa to a more comfortable position. The more tense the situation became, the more he relaxed. It was an old defensive technique he’d learned long ago for defusing situations in the bar.
“That’s up to Social Services,” he replied blandly.
Cleo turned her glare on Maya. “He’s got your daughter and my son. What’s he doing, holding them hostage?”
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